Provincial
leaders cry foul over suspensions A TIME bomb could be ticking in Zanu PF
provincial structures because of simmering discontent over President Robert
Mugabe's unilateral suspension of the party's six provincial
chairpersons.

The move could cost the party dearly in next year's
general elections, observers say.Senior Zanu PF officials who spoke to
The Standard last week said the suspension of the six chairpersons confirms
what the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and other
Zimbabweans have always been saying: that Mugabe was a " real
dictator".

The six were suspended just days ahead of the Zanu PF congress
for attending a meeting called by the junior information minister, Jonathan
Moyo in Tsholotsho, without the approval of the Politburo.

The six
Zanu PF provincial chairpersons are from Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and
South, Masvingo, Manicaland and Midlands.

"Democracy entails the right of
people to elect their leadership. When their right to do so is vetoed, what
democracy can we be talking about," said one of the suspended Zanu PF
officials.

The opposition MDC was also quick to condemn the suspension of
the six, saying Zanu PF only wanted elections whose outcome was
pre-determined.

"The crime of the six chairpersons who were suspended is
that they sought to vote in candidates of their choice, which is what an
election is all about. But no, according to Zanu PF, those who exercise
their right to free choice must be punished," said Paul Themba Nyathi, the
opposition party's spokesperson.

Zanu PF party sources said yesterday
the six were not likely to appeal against their six-month suspension from
party affairs since there is no independent body to hear their side of the
story.

The sources also said there was no point in appealing against
their suspension since President Mugabe had already tried them and found
them guilty.

"Our case was unfairly treated by the presidium hence
the silence. It defies logic to appeal to the central committee or the
politburo when Mugabe found us guilty even before we were tried," said a
party source.

"These people have invested a lot in the ruling party but
with this sad development, they have been dealt a severe blow."

Some
of the provincial chairpersons contacted by The Standard refused to talk
about their suspension.

Zanu PF Matabeleland North provincial
chairperson, Jacob Mudenda, referred The Standard to the ruling party
national chairperson John Nkomo.

Themba Ncube, Zanu PF, chairperson for
Bulawayo province, said besides the presidium, he had already presented his
case to the party's spokesperson, Nathan Shamuyarira, who has sole authority
to comment.

The Matabeleland South provincial chairperson, Lloyd Siyoka,
also referred all questions to Shamuyarira, who could not be reached for
comment last night.

Nkomo admitted that most of the suspended Zanu PF
provincial chairpersons were "unhappy and bitter" about their
suspension.

"However, I cannot comment over the matter because Cde
(Elliot) Manyika is the one who is looking into that matter," Nkomo
said.

Manyika, the Zanu PF national political commissar, could not be
reached for comment yesterday.

Jabulani Sibanda, the leader of the
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), who was
slapped with a four-year suspension, said it was not clear whether the
suspension was a final verdict or whether he would be afforded a
hearing.

But if it was final, he said, the move was a threat to
democratic principles, as the suspended members should have been accorded a
fair hearing to defend their positions.

"The people of Zimbabwe
should fight for democracy no matter where the threat to democracy is coming
from. Whether the threat is from the top echelons of the party or from
below. We will fight for democracy.

"Time is on the side of the truth and
the future belongs to the fearless," Sibanda said.

A defiant Sibanda,
who denied that he attended the Tsholotsho Indaba, said he would have
attended the meeting if he had been free to do so.

Sibanda also described
Moyo's development projects in Tsholotsho as "a cleansing act" of killings
by Mugabe's North Korean-trained 5 Brigade in the region in the early
1980s.

The war veterans' leader said the so-called "Tsholotsho
Declaration" was a creation of "ill-minded people" like Obert Mpofu, the
Matabeleland North Governor, who he said were "Mugabe's
bootlickers".

Mpofu could not be reached for comment.

Other Zanu
PF officials who spoke to The Standard questioned why Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa, Masvingo Governor Josaya Hungwe, Minister of State in the
Vice President's Office, Flora Bhuka and deputy chairman of ZNLWVA Joseph
Chinotimba were not suspended when they also attended the same meeting.

ZIMBABWE'S powerful labour movement, the
ZCTU, which forced the government to scrap the controversial development
levy in 1998, is now pondering what action to take following the
government's intention to prolong the Aids levy.

The ZCTU - and
Zimbabwean business people - argue that nationals and companies in the
southern African country are among the most highly taxed people in the
world.Acting Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa retained the 3% Aids levy in
his 2005 national budget, which was introduced in January 2000 amid public
outcry.

This was despite his undertaking to scrap the tax after
December 2003, an intention he announced during his 2003 National Budget
statement during when he said "sufficient funds would have been accumulated
by end of 2003. Hence, I propose that such funds be placed in an endowment
fund and that taxpayers cease to contribute towards the Aids
levy".

However, in his 2005 statement last month Murerwa made a surprise
U-turn, retaining this additional tax on workers and companies and stating
that "additional resources in support of the health sector are (going to be)
available through the Aids levy".

The ZCTU, which says it applauds
Murerwa for increasing the tax-free income threshold to $1 million per
month, says the Minister should have stuck to his word and lessened further
the workers' tax burden.

Besides the 3% Aids levy, Zimbabwean workers who
earn salaries and wages that are above $1 million a month - which itself is
now not enough to sustain a family of four - are taxed 40% of their
salaries.

ZCT Secretary-General Wellington Chibebe told Standard Business
that the HIV/Aids committee of the union's general council is currently
consulting over the issue of the continued Aids levy.

"The Aids levy,
like the tax issue, is one of the agenda items for 2005. So once a position
is adopted by the general council it becomes our resolution," said Chibebe
whose union once forced the government to scrap another unpopular tax - the
development levy - through waves of strike action that brought the country
to a halt in 1998.

He said the ZCTU was concerned that the distribution
of Aids funds had been politicised with only those well connected being the
main ones benefiting.

"From the time of inception our worry has been that
the supposed beneficiaries are not benefiting at all. If ever they are, the
benefits are cursory and paltry," Chibebe said.

However other
analysts defended the Aids levy arguing it was important to maintain it,
considering the increase in the cases of the HIV and Aids

Estimates
indicate that HIV/Aids is claiming at least 3 000 able-bodied individuals
weekly in Zimbabwe posing one of the major challenges for business
development. In addition 25% the adult population is estimated to be
infected with HIV/Aids.

Tendai Biti, the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) secretary for economic affairs, said Murerwa was
over optimistic during his 2003 National Budget statement when he said it
was time to scrap the Aids levy.

Labour activists and economic analysts
reason that the tax, which is levied at 3% of individual and company income
tax, puts a strain on already heavily taxed workers.

They also
protest that the proposed transfer and control of the Aids fund into the
hands of the ruling Zanu PF party would be counter productive. At its fourth
National People Congress held in the capital last week, the ruling Zanu PF
activists lobbied for the party to be allowed to administer Aids funds.

GOVERNMENT has stood down on attempts to take over FSI Agricom
Holdings, Mutumwa Mawere's troubled agro-processing
business.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Patrick
Chinamasa said in an Extraordinary Government Gazette published Friday that
the reconstruction order issued on FSI Agricom on September 7 had been
cancelled.The order had been issued on FSI in terms of the Reconstruction of
State-Indebted Insolvent Companies regulation, under which Government can
seize control of a company that is deemed unable to repay debts derived from
public funds.

Government had justified its order on FSI by alleging
massive mismanagement at the firm, saying the company's failure would see
the loss of 5 000 jobs. FSI is currently retrenching staff, seeking to cut
huge losses incurred on its outgrower schemes, hurt by a similar scheme from
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

No reasons were officially given for
the decision to rescind the order, but The Standard understands that Reggie
Saruchera, who had been appointed administrator of FSI, found that FSI was
not as heavily indebted to Government as earlier suspected. However,
Saruchera could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Friday's back
down on FSI comes after a controversy surrounding an application by Mawere's
SMM Holdings, the country's sole producer of asbestos, to bar Government
from taking over its operations. Reports said a record of the case had
allegedly gone missing at the courts.

Loyce Matanda-Moyo, the Director of
the Civil Division in the Attorney General's office, also denied a press
report that the High Court had issued an order interdicting the State from
taking over SMM.

Government's move on FSI had raised fears that senior
officials were after the company's assets, which include Rogate, Bosbury,
Risboro farms outside Chegutu and Essex farm in Selous. FSI holds land
covering 4300 hectares, 1 125 ha of which is developed. FSI is the holding
company of FSI Cotton, FSI Farms, FSI Farm Mechanisation and FSI
Soya.

Senior Government officials are said to have targeted some of
Mawere's vast business interests, which stretch from finance to mining.
Government has appointed a ministerial committee to oversee the operations
of SMM, which is allegedly at the centre of various foreign currency crimes
that the Sate wants Mawere to face.

THE days of Asian businessmen who are flooding the country with
low-priced and fake goods are numbered. On Friday the government announced
the imposition of punitive duty on Asian imports.

Through Statutory
Instrument 223 of 2004 gazetted on Friday the Acting Finance Minister,
Herbert Murerwa, amended the Customs and Excise (Tariff) Act to allow for
the imposition of huge tariffs on Asian imports mainly from China that
haveflooded the local market since early this year.The new 'anti-dumping
legislation' is effective 16th of August 2004.

In the meantime, The
Standard has established that foreign goods flooding the local textile and
clothing market since the government introduced its 'Look East' policy are
forcing local indigenous players out of business.

Clothing and textile
industry players said the market was rapidly moving towards uneconomic
prices which adversely affects local manufacturers.

Players in the
industry say imports flooding the market have put up to 30 000 jobs at
risk.

Jacob Gwavava, the president of the Clothing Industry Workers'
Union told The Standard that a number of indigenous firms had closed because
big companies that have been contracting them were scaling down
operations.

"Cheap Chinese goods are negatively affecting our industries.
They are literary dumping cheap clothes onto our markets. The best thing
these guys should have done was to open up factories in the country and not
to bring in these cheap finished goods," Gwavava said.

Under the
revised tariffs men's and women's overcoats, caps, cloaks, skirts, jackets,
t-shirts, blankets, dresses and trousers will now be levied 60% import duty
plus $250 000 for every kilogramme (kg) weighed. Footwear incorporating
protective boots now attract duty of 60% as well as $50 000 for a pair.
Following the hike in tariffs Chinese imports are set to be more expensive
than those produced locally.

"The competition in future will now be based
on quality rather than on price," said economic commentator Eric Bloch who
added that the new legislation would go a long way in levelling the playing
field in the clothing and footwear sector.

An economist with the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, Bernard Mufute, said the legislation
would keep out imports from China, adding , "It will help the local
industry."

Minimal import duties were doing little to stem the influx of
Asian goods but the stricter tariffs are seen as an overdue attempt to stave
off the imminent collapse of Zimbabwe's once vibrant textile industry,
analysts said.

The influx of Asian goods ranked high on Zimbabwean
manufacturers' list of worries, which also include, hard currency shortages,
triple-digit inflation, high interest rates, shrinking consumer demand and
political instability. Quite a number of jobs had been lost as companies
either closed or scaled down operations.

Political pressure for
government to do something about the 'Zhing Zhong' imports from Asia mounted
late this year when Zanu PF legislator and businessman Philip Chiyangwa led
a parliamentary portfolio committee on industry, international trade and
foreign affairs on a tour of some of the shops that have sprouted around the
country.

But while local businessmen celebrate the punitive duty on Asian
imports, it still remains to be seen how the government will deal with the
massive influx of batteries, playing cards, toys, tooth brushes, nail
varnish, electric irons and radios among the assortment of brightly
attractive products available at stalls in flea markets across the
country.

Established local companies which used to subcontract small
indigenous companies were also scaling down operations, making life very
difficult for small companies.

Fred Mpofu, general secretary of the
National Union of the Clothing Industry, said his union was so worried about
the future of the clothing industry that he had approached the National
Employment Council for the Clothing Industry to lobby the government to
protect the industry.

"Right now, competition from Asian products,
especially those from China, is grossly unfair. Down town, you can buy a
Chinese shirt for $14 000. You can hardly get a locally manufactured shirt
for less than $100 000," Mpofu said.

Mpofu said a number of clothing
factories in Bulawayo, such as Ascot and Label, were already feeling the
pinch. They were either retrenching workers or had gone on three-day working
weeks.

Long winding queues can be seen on a daily basis at Chinese shops,
particularly in the capital, as Zimbabweans, hard-hit by a recession now in
its fifth year, jostle to buy imitation designer clothes sold at below
market prices. Increasing queues have only served to encourage further
importation of the fakes.

Mpofu said there was no way Zimbabwean
companies could match competition from the Asian products. "China has
several advantages over us. It has easy access to cheap raw materials and it
enjoys cheap labour and has modern technology. We cannot compete against
them," he said.

Another leading clothing concern Paramount Garment Works
has already started scratching off their contract list a number indigenous
companies, but production manager at Paramount identified only as a Mr Care
refused to discuss the matter.

THE main opposition party, the MDC, has pleaded with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to spare Zimbabwe, which faces possible
expulsion from the global lender's ranks next month.

The fund's
Executive Board meets in January in Washington to consider Harare's possible
expulsion from the 184-member fund.Harare is in arrears of an overdue debt
that runs into billions of dollars.

Sharmini Coorey, the IMF's head of
mission confirmed meeting the opposition party but could not be drawn into
revealing much referring The Standard to a press statement released by the
international lender last month.

A three-member MDC delegation led by
Tendai Biti, the party's secretary for economic affairs met a visiting IMF
mission that left the country yesterday afternoon.

The opposition
party reasoned that it would not be constructive for Zimbabwe whose
membership dates back from September 1980, to be compulsorily expelled from
the fund .

".it would be much easier to start from a situation where
Zimbabwe is still a member rather than having to start with re-applying for
membership of the Fund," reads part of a paper that was presented to a
four-member IMF delegation during Thursday's meeting.

The IMF board,
which cut off balance of payments support to Zimbabwe five years ago and
shut down its Harare office is widely expected to expel the country from the
institution. Harare is US$290 million deep in arrears to the Bretton Woods
institution.

The IMF mission, which also held several meetings with the
Reserve bank Governor Gideon Gono, the treasury and economic consultants, is
expected to recommend to the board the action to take with regard to
Harare's default on payments.

The MDC's economics' committee also
disputed the government's repeated claims of an economic renaissance
pointing at growing poverty.

But in his 17th state of the nation address
delivered in parliament last week President Mugabe reiterated that
Zimbabwe's economy, which has been in a tailspin since 1998, had turned the
corner.

A critical shortage of specialist physicians in the country has
significantly contributed to the current high Aids-related deaths as people
living with the disease are failing to access regular expert medical help
and treatment, doctors and Aids activists have said.

They said some
of the people who died from the pandemic could have survived longer if they
had access to expert medical care, drugs as well as proper dietary
nutrition.Presently it takes between one and two months for a patient to
access a specialist doctor in a government hospital, they said.

Susan
Mbiriyakura, an official with The Centre, an Aids advocacy organisation,
said some people who succumbed to Aids/HIV might not have died if Zimbabwe
had enough specialist doctors and drugs.

She said that there were cases
where Aids patients received "wrong medication" from inexperienced doctors,
thereby endangering one's life. Good medical care prolonged one's life, she
said.

"Some of our members live up to 20 years after being diagnosed HIV
positive because we give them 'positive living lectures' and we also
facilitate that they access a specialist doctor," said Mbiriyakura, a
counsellor with The Centre.

At least 3 800 people are dying from Aids
related illness every week in Zimbabwe, one of the countries in southern
Africa with the highest number of deaths due to the disease. The other
countries are neighbouring Botswana and South Africa.

Latest
statistics from the Health Professional Council (HPC) indicate that there
are 369 specialist doctors in the country. Out of these, there are only
eight pathologists, five neurologist surgeons and one clinical
immunologist.

An official with the council said the number of
specialist doctors could be much lower because some of them had left the
country. "Most of those on council's register are no longer in the country
because they don't notify anybody when they leave," said the
source.

Christopher Mushonga, an orthopaedic surgeon, said it took at
least one month before a patient saw a specialist doctor because of the
current shortage. He said the scenario was bad to any patient but worse for
Aids victims.

"Their immune system will be down and so they suffer
from a host of problems such as appendicitis, pneumonia or broken bones
which take long to heal, so they need specialist attention. The current
situation is really bad for people living with the disease," said Mushonga,
who runs private surgeries in addition to working in government
hospitals.

President of the Zimbabwe Medical Association (Zima) Billy
Rigava, also conceded that shortage of specialist doctors had a negative
bearing on the people living with Aids. He was, however, quick to point out
that the foundation of the health sector was based on primary health care
since, in most countries, doctors were concentrated in urban
centres.

"Certainly, the shortage of specialist doctors is a worrying
issue, especially with high incidents of Aids but strengthening our primary
health care is equally necessary and important," said Rigava, who estimated
there were 200 doctors remaining in the country.

There is not single
doctor in some districts. For example, said Rigava, Kariba district had no
doctor and relied mainly on nurses in government hospitals.

Mushonga
estimated that of the 200 doctors, 75 percent of them could have left the
country for greener pastures. Most of the doctors seek better working
conditions and salaries in countries such as Botswana, South Africa, United
Kingdom, Canada and the USA.

According to the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP)'s Human Development Report for 2004 Zimbabwe has about six
ordinary doctors for 10 000 patients.

The University of Zimbabwe
trains an average of 80 doctors a year, a number too small to satisfy local
demand because as soon as they gain some experience they leave the
country.

Zimbabwe is not committing enough financial resources to the
crucial health sector. The UN Report says on avera

ge the country is
committing less than 3 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to the
health sector.

INCREASED incidents of violent crime and prostitution are
driving residents of Harare's Avenues to seek accommodation in safer areas
such as the city's eastern and northern suburbs, The Standard has
established.

Residents who spoke to this newspaper last week said it was
becoming increasingly difficult to live in the Avenues areas because of
rising cases of robbery, thefts, muggings and prostitution.They said
prostitutes and foreigners, mostly from Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Liberia, Rwanda and Pakistan, peddling hard drugs and dealing in
foreign currency had turned the once tranquil area into a "red light
district".

In recent years, a number of flats and houses have been turned
into brothels and shebeens, which have become springboards and havens for
thieves and prostitutes.

Residents said despite police raids against
prostitutes and criminals, the Avenues area remained highly dangerous and
unfit for raising children.

"Those who can afford are moving out because
of the high crime rate. It is very dangerous to walk alone during the night
in those unlit streets. That apart, how can you raise children in that red
light district," said Sam Chikaura, who resides in the
Avenues.

Another resident, who requested anonymity, said she was
contemplating moving out of the area despite its proximity to the central
business district (CBD). She said she had been robbed and her clothes stolen
from the washing line several times.

"If I had some money, I would
have moved out to suburbs such as Mt Pleasant, Greendale or to flats near
the State House where it's secure," she said.

She said most of people
remained in the Avenues area because it was a walking distance to the CBD
and would not incur transport costs.

Boysen Mutembwa of Bard Real Estate
said crime had increased in the Avenues because of prostitution. "Crime is
bad for the property market but it does not mean values are going down in
the Avenues," Mutembwa said.

He said crime led to the development of
cluster homes by the rich in Harare's northern suburbs and the security
associated with clusters.

"Security in the Avenues is poor and those with
money are moving away into cluster homes," Mutembwa said.

But an
official with Southgate & Bancroft, a real estate company, however, said
the middle and lower income earners still preferred living in the Avenues
because of its proximity to the city centre.

She said apart from crime
and vice, some people were deserting the area because they were failing to
keep up with the high rentals currently being charged. A one bed-roomed flat
commands about $1,2 million a month.

"It is difficult to categorically
say people are moving out because of crime because some are dying to get
accommodation in the area. In fact, there are a number of factors including
high rentals," she said.

THE Zanu PF government will introduce the ruling party's history in
primary schools if what transpired at last week's Congress is anything to go
by.

This was immediately condemned by the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) and other Zimbabweans who equated the concept to that used to brain
wash members of the Hitler Youth Movement under German dictator, Adolf
Hitler.Presenting the Social Services, Health and Education committee report
during last week's ruling party Congress, the Minister of Health and Child
Welfare, Dr David Parirenyatwa, said the teaching of Zanu PF's history would
be done in conjunction with the Commissariat Department of the ruling
party.

"It is the recommendation of this committee that children at
primary school should be taught the history of Zanu PF so that they have an
appreciation of their party," said Parirenyatwa, who is assumed by many to
be a moderate and a technocrat within the ruling party.

Zanu PF
insiders said the brain-washing onslaught would be unleashed on rural school
children to keep them from straying.

"We should target rural school
children. They have no other sources of information and if we catch them
young, they would not want to hear about any other political party except
Zanu PF," said a senior Zanu PF official.

Ironically, Parirenyatwa's
ministry is responsible for the welfare of children and subjecting them to a
partisan history would not be serving their welfare.

MDC
spokesperson, Paul Themba Nyathi, described the plan as "sinister".

"The
whole plan is based on a sinister agenda to brain wash children of poor
people in rural areas while the children of the chefs will be allowed to
attain full intellectual capacity."

He said as was the case with the
National Youth Training Service, the children would be schooled in attitudes
of intolerance. "The expected outcome is that the children will be turned
into zombies ready to glorify Zanu PF all the time," Nyathi
said.

Already, students who complete secondary education are being
trained under the National Youth Training Programme amid accusations that
they are drilled to become intolerant of political parties other than Zanu
PF.

Graduates from the camps have been accused of beating up and raping
members of the MDC.

Asked for, comment, the Minister of Education,
Sport and Culture, who also sat in the committee said: "It may have come out
that way when the issue was raised but I think it should be taken as the
history of the liberation struggle."

He would not commit himself to
when the programme was expected to start."I will wait for the commissariat
to approach the ministry," said Chigwedere whose experiments in education
have all ended up as spectacular failures.

He referred further questions
to the secretary for the commissariat in the Politburo, Elliot
Manyika.

But Manyika was equally evasive. "On that issue, please find out
from the national party chairman, Comrade John Nkomo."

THE
outcome of the Zanu PF Congress held a week ago demonstrated the extent to,
and the speed with which the ruling party's members and followers fall into
line when their leader cracks the whip.

During his 17th State of the
Nation Address on Thursday President Mugabe reiterated his government's
determination to ensure the March 2005 parliamentary elections will not be
marred by incidents of violence from "whatever quarter". Bravo Mr
President!There is no doubt that Zimbabweans will overwhelmingly welcome an
election that is not marred by violence. However, there is also no doubt
supporters of Zanu PF, against whom the police in the past have appeared
powerless, are perpetrators of the bulk of the election violence in this
country. While the majority of Zimbabweans hope that peace will prevail
during the general elections, the challenge is whether President Mugabe's
words can be translated into concrete action.

When he told the Zanu
PF congress that it was time for the party to deliver on its commitment on
women occupying a third of the decision-making posts in the ruling party and
that the preferred candidate was Mrs Joyce Mujuru, none of his members
openly disagreed.

Equally, if President Mugabe is sincere in his
commitment to a peaceful parliamentary poll next March, none of his party
supporters should defy his directive and go unpunished. For many
Zimbabweans, however, there is a huge credibility gap - as wide as the
Sahara desert - in what the President says and what then later
transpires.

During the 2000 parliamentary elections, President Mugabe
openly exhorted his supporters to "strike fear in their hearts" meaning the
Zimbabwean white community, amid chants of Zanu ndeyeropa - a party that
spills the blood of the living.

It is doubtful that President Mugabe
means his ruling party desires peaceful elections, because violence has
always worked to the advantage of Zanu PF as it coerces people to vote for
it or threatens them with the consequences of a possible return to war. Many
with fresh memories and experiences of what the war for the struggle for
liberation was, live in perpetual fear.

It is equally doubtful President
Mugabe could be training youths under the national youth service scheme when
what he desires is peaceful elections. It is common knowledge that since
1985, Zanu PF has successfully introduced violence as a weapon, in its
arsenal, for winning elections.

The one scenario that seems set to
guarantee peaceful general elections is if the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) pulls out of the contest and Zanu PF is left on its
own.

However, even if such a scenario were to present itself, the
in-fighting among Zanu PF supporters - as witnessed in Masvingo and Mabvuku,
for example - over differences about who should be officially nominated by
the party for the March 2005 parliamentary elections demonstrates the
governing party's inability to deal with its own members and possibly lack
of political will to crack the whip at those predisposed to
violence.

Where the government and the ruling party have appeared to act
against their supporters, no sooner have these been convicted than they were
granted amnesty. Our suspicion is that President Mugabe's pledge to fight
violence was for the consumption of the international community.

If
he and his government are committed to peaceful election, then he should
have no qualms about allowing regional and international observers to come
and see how the campaigning and proper voting process are conducted. He
should also demand an end to the hate language and the threats to the
opposition by himself and the leadership of his party. The government can
only be afraid of allowing foreign observers, if it is fully aware that
there is something amiss and to hide.

Police Commissioner Augustine
Chihuri, has instructed his officers to practise zero-tolerance to violence.
The proof of President Mugabe's commitment to a poll free of violence and
Chihuri's zero-tolerance to violence lies in their willingness to translate
their expressions of intent into thoroughgoing action.

The
Commissioner of Police decried the setting up of bases, as well as bussing
of people from one constituency to another, saying these should stop. Human
rights organisations and the accounts of victims of violence at the hands of
well-known and identified perpetrators have gone without police action. We
wish he could for once, act on what he says and the culprits brought to
book.

The tragedy is that no life should be lost or property destroyed in
order to secure a vote for someone. Recourse to violence confirms that a
party and its candidates have nothing to offer that is why violence is used
to force people into supporting candidates they would not voluntarily vote
for.

Last week the police took delivery of a new fleet of vehicles, which
according to the police, will be used by the Highway Patrol. There is no
doubt there should be more discipline on the roads, but the new resources
should not just benefit the Highway Patrol. The loss of life or property on
the roads is no greater than the loss of life as a result of punishment for
not supporting a political party whose vision and ideals are not for the
greater good of the country.

It is not illegal to support a political
organisation other than the ruling party. We fought the despicable Smith
regime in order to have freedom to choose and not for everyone to march like
a boyscout.

There has never been a desire on the part of Zanu PF to drive
violence out of the election processes because it has served the interests
of the ruling party very well. President Mugabe can score a double by
practically and concretely denoun cing violence, promoting peaceful
elections and demanding that law enforcement agents crack down on
perpetrators of violence regardless of party affiliation.

DIVISIONS in the central African basket case's ruling party
worsened this week, leading to speculation that the country would soon
become a banana split republic. The misinformation minister's ejection from
the ruling Zany Party's central committee led to further debate about
whether he had been working clandestinely for the More Drink Coming Party
all along.

The move left the ruling Zany Party reeling in a certain
amount of disarray as its members speculated about moving towards an
election next year with its chief spin doctor in no mood to
cooperate.

However, it wasn't in such disarray that it wasn't able to
pass yet another bit of enabling legislation. If readers of this newspaper
believe the new NGO Act isn't enabling, then they are wrong. The new law
enables the Zany Party, the Zany police and anyone else connected to Zany
structures to close down anyone who might be helping victims of violence. In
that sense, the law couldn't be more enabling.

So, the troubled
central African banana split republic doesn't mean that the Zany Party is
any less vindictive - or that a new mood of conciliatoriness has emerged
from within the ranks. Stand by for some formidable action against anyone
taking foreign currency from enemy states.

Over The Top understands that
Zany structures will tolerate NGOs taking money from friendly states like
Cuba, China and North Korea - but sadly none of those states have any money
and even if they did, it isn't the sort of currency even troubled central
Africans would want.

Enemy states are those western powers with the sort
of money troubled central Africans like best. The sort of money that
actually buys things you can use. In the interest of helping troubled
central Africans understand the new law, it needs to be explained that
friendly states offer a currency known locally as zhing zhong. If anyone
offers you this money, make sure you count it - and your fingers -
afterwards.

Of course, zhing zhong money doesn't actually work. It only
buys things like zhing zhong shoes, shirts, electrical appliances and ugly
ornamental lights - and none of those work either.

Still, the new law
leaves troubled central African NGOs with a conundrum. They can break the
law by accepting proper western money which buys much needed food, bandages
and pain killers, all of which are useful given Zany law enforcement
measures. On the other hand, they can legally (well, almost) accept zhing
zhong money which doesn't really buy anything except things that don't work
and aren't any use.

The new Zany split party is, of course, making heavy
use of laws that were drafted by ministers that are no longer in favour.
That means that if there's a cabinet reshuffle, it doesn't really matter.
The laws already exist and the ministers have served their purpose so if
they're cast into the wilderness, tough luck. The Zany Party's been doing it
for the last 30 years, so no one should be surprised by what is
happening.

Anyway, the new law coming from the split Zany Party isn't a
surprise, but it is unfortunate news for victims of Zany violence and other
enemies of the state who may find they're now adding bandages to the long
list of things that are in short supply in the troubled central African
police state.

IN ROUGHLY one short decade, a new political phenomenon has spread
across the African continent: Where ex-presidents once were rare, now they
are plentiful.

More than a dozen make up the short list, which
includes some of the biggest African names of the past half century: Jerry
Rawlings, Kenneth Kaunda, Nelson Mandela, Daniel arap Moi - and now Sam
Nujoma and, later this month, Joaquim Chissano.Encouragingly, most were
forced from office by constitutionally imposed term limits - a measure of
how entrenched democracy has become in Africa in the 15 years since the fall
of the Berlin Wall.

And while most have resisted the temptation to try to
retake the national political stage, at least overtly, the growth of this
august class of African statesmen begs a question: Do they represent a new
resource that can, and should, be exploited more deliberately for common
good?

Back during the heyday of post-colonial strong-man rule, when it
required the law of force rather than the rule of law to dislodge an
occupant from State House, post-presidential career options were
minimal.

Exile was the only safe bet for deposed leaders such as Idi
Amin, Mohammed Siad Barre and Mengistu Haile Mariam. Change by ballot box
has brought new options for former leaders. Some, to be sure, still try to
pull the strings of power.

In Malawi for example, former President
Bakili Muluzi remained national chairman of the ruling United Democratic
Front (UDF) after his chosen successor, Bingu wa Mutharika, won the April
2004 election with 35% of the vote.

The same thing happened in
Zambia, where former President Frederick Chiluba remains leader of the
ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) more than two years after
Levy Mwanawasa took office in July 2002.

Namibia is heading into a
similar situation. The country's founding president, Sam Nujoma, hand-picked
his successor in last month's election and will retain control of the ruling
Swapo.

That trend is potentially destabilising. Both the UDF in Malawi
and the MMD in Zambia are now factionally divided. In the latter's case,
Mwanawasa has attempted to neutralise his predecessor by getting parliament
to lift Chiluba's immunity from prosecution on more than 60 charges of
corruption and theft.

In Namibia, incoming President Hifikepunye
Pohamba is a lifelong loyal comrade of Nujoma's, ensuring that there will be
little room in the ruling party or government to adopt policies Nujoma
rejects.

As Graham Hopwood of the Windhoek-based Institute for Public
Policy Research points out: 'Pohamba has always done what Nujoma has told
him.'

But for every possibly worrying example, there are positive ones,
too. Zambia's Kenneth Kaunda has actively encouraged African leaders to take
a more pro-active response to HIV/AIDS. Botswana's Sir Ketumile Masire
oversaw the complex peace talks on the Democratic Republic of
Congo.

And South Africa's Nelson Mandela has lent his formidable
negotiating skills to a myriad of problems both on and off the
continent.

Later in December 2004, Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano
will be the next long-serving African leader to bow to the mandate of
presidential term limits. He'll retain the leadership of the ruling Frelimo
until 2007 and his chosen successor, Armando Emilio Guebuza, has a clear
shot at the presidency. But Chissano has already signalled his desire for
pursuits beyond State House. Sometime in the new year, he has announced,
he'll start a peace foundation bearing his name.

Across the border in
South Africa, senior officials of the ruling African National Congress at
least openly hope that President Thabo Mbeki will retain a leadership role
in the party even after term limits force him to step down from the
presidency in 2009.

Sbu Ndebele, a prominent ANC cadre, makes the point
that the ANC will still need Mbeki's 'skills, wisdom and vision' and that
'there is no political and constitutional reason to give it up' at the party
level.

Fair enough. But Mbeki will still be a relatively young statesman
when his second terms ends in 2009. And since he has established himself as
an eloquent advocate for parity between the wealthy North and developing
South, there's every reason to believe that he'll play new roles on the
international stage after he leaves the presidency.

In the meantime,
Africa has a new resource. It would be a shame not to tap into it. - eafrica
journal.

WITH
the majority of the population in the country now in the informal sector
after the demise of traditional business, a number of informal business
associations have come together to form the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal
Economy Association.

The association's main objectives include protecting
the interests of the informal traders in the country.Speaking at a Press
briefing, Valentine Chikonyora, the president of ZCIEA said the association
represents everyone who operates within the informal
sector.

"Membership to ZCIEA is open to all Zimbabwe informal economy
business associations and currently the chamber is composed of 25 chapters
and about 125 informal economy traders associations throughout the country,"
Chikonyora said.

He said the informal sector was playing a very
important role in developing the country's economy and is helping to close
the gap of high unemployment.

"More than 75% of the country's population
is unemployed and the rate of unemployment has been increasing as a result
of the economic structural adjustment programmes in the early 1990s. ZCIEA
is a direct response to the collapse of the formal set-ups," he
said.

Wellington Chibebe, the Secretary-General of ZCTU said the coming
in of ZCIEA was a welcome development and would also go a long way in
addressing the problems faced by informal traders.

He added that the
only way to have the problems in the country's economy solved is to admit
and recognise that the informal sector is important to the development of a
country.

ZCTU Chief Economist Godfrey Kanyenze said the flourishing of
the informal sector was a clear sign of how bad the country's economy is at
the moment.

Cultural revival or political posturing? (Continued from
last week.)Sundayopinion By Desmond Kumbuka

BUT perhaps, there is a
basic rationale why politicians incessantly exhort the masses to maintain
their culture; not to lose sight of their true African identity by following
their customs and traditions, many of which steeped in ignorance and
superstition; elements that thrive in an environment of abject
poverty.

The point is: how many of the African politicians themselves
observe these norms and live by the cultural standards that they expect
others to adhere to. Is this not a way of telling lesser mortals not to
aspire to things beyond their reach lest they become problematic by making
demands that can not be met from the limited resources in their particular
countries.

Zimbabweans in particular, and Africans generally have the
peculiar distinction of being able to maintain a dual existence - one at the
rural home and the other in the city. There is something to be said about
this African versatility - the ability to indulge in the best of modern
living - palatial mansions with wall to wall carpeting, microwave stoves,
the best in cyberspace entertainment, a sauna and jacuzzi on the side, all
this and still be able to plunge into a semi-primeval existence where floors
are smeared with cow-dung and cooking is done on wood fires.

In his
recent book entitled, "A whole lot of Nonsense, Poverty and the Noble
Savage," author John Hollaway, makes some interesting observations on
reasons why the industrialised West is reluctant to share its wealth with
the underdeveloped third world.

Hollaway contends, that for the first
time in the history of mankind on earth, industrialised nations have created
an environment so secure that it is no longer necessary for their citizens
to have many children for their race and culture to survive.

That
there is a feeling within the western world that the economic system which
produces such safe and comfortable lives for them draws too deeply on
earth's resources for it to be allowed to spread to the rest of the
globe.

Can the same not be said of Africa's ruling classes who feel that
the resources in their countries are only sufficient to satisfy their own
insatiable greed for wealth and are unwilling to share with their
compatriots.

Is it not reasonable to conclude that many fear this
would diminish their own share if such resources were distributed equitably
among their countrymen. We have, for instance, the recent case in Zimbabwe
of politicians who have between four and six vehicles at their command,
going to officiate at a ceremony to inaugurate ox-drawn ambulances for rural
emergencies.

Current moves by government to grant vehicles to
traditional chiefs and provide electrify at their rural homesteads will seem
to the more gullible to be the ultimate equitable distribution of wealth.
But what sense is there in providing vehicles where there are no roads, or
electricity where there are no appliances to use it for.

And in order
to perpetuate the disparities in wealth levels, African politicians pay lip
service to wealth creation and little tangible assistance is given to create
citizens that are as wealthy as those in urban centres in the hope that the
poor can live happily in their time-honoured ways, as Rousseau envisaged in
his concept of the "Noble Savage", to quote from Hollaway's
book.

Indeed, Is it not strange that wealthy people never seem satisfied
with what they have and continue to exploit every available opportunity,
including their compatriots to create more wealth for
themselves.

Why, for instance, does President Mugabe, who over the past
24 years has been a dependent of the State, need several mansions in Harare,
to say nothing of another vast complex at his Zvimba home built for him
almost gratis by contractors obviously seeking to ingratiate themselves to
the highest office in the land.

Over the past few months, the
official media has been brimming with reports of the President donating
computers to rural schools through out the country. The impression created
by the reports is that the President, through his own generosity and concern
for school children in rural areas, is taking money from his own pocket to
purchase the computers. But , as one letter writer to this newspaper pointed
out, the President is paid by the State and as head of State, has the
responsibility to ensure that education facilities are available to the
citizens of the country.

This gratuitous attitude of the ruling class to
seek credit for performing their State functions as public servants
manifests itself in many forms in Zimbabwe.

Some would argue that the
government has itself created conditions that have impoverished citizens of
the country, after which it then proceeds to claim credit for interventions
to ameliorate that poverty although it is its bounden duty to do
so.

There are also numerous cases of ministers, MPs and other "benevolent
donors" taking over responsibility of paying school fees for children of
poor parents. Instead of enabling the parents to find jobs so that they can
pay the school fees for their children, the government has been happy to
undermine the self-pride and dignity of the parents by reducing them to
beggars who have to rely on others to educate their offspring.

It is
also instructive to note that on the numerous TV programmes featuring the so
called new farmers, their common cry is," if the government could give us
this" or "if government did that." The Zanu PF government has itself created
a dependence syndrome among the citizens so that it can then exploit them
and blackmail them into voting for it through payment of school fees and
donations of various kinds.

ON 13 March 2000 I wrote in The Daily News about my friend from
Ghana, George Kom. He visited me in Zimbabwe when it was still Rhodesia.
This was after I had visited Ghana.

I had been shocked by the social,
political and economic decay, which was evident everywhere in that
country.As he left Rhodesia, Kom was so impressed by everything he saw. He
said if conditions got worse in Ghana he would like to come and stay here
even though whites were still in control.

This is what I wrote in The
Daily News: "In 1980, soon after our independence George and I attended a
conference in Kenya. During the opening dinner the master of ceremony
congratulated Zimbabwe for attaining its independence after a hard struggle.
He asked me to say a few words about my country. I proudly stood up and
thanked the African countries represented there for assisting Zimbabwe in
her struggle.

"After my speech, the master of ceremony asked all to fill
their glasses for a toast to the new Zimbabwe. During the toast I noticed
that my friend was sitting down with his head in his hands and a cynical
smile on his face.

"Later on, during the dinner, I went over to his table
and asked him why he did not toast my country. He said: 'My friend, I love
you and your country. But, to be honest, I can't congratulate you. I can
only commiserate. In a few years from now you will be just like Ghana. You
were better off with whites in control. We black people are just not capable
of practising democracy. You will go the way of the rest of
Africa.'

"I laughed and explained to George that Zimbabwe was going to be
a showcase. It was going to be an example to the rest of Africa for it had
an established black and white educated middle class with entrepreneurial
skills. I also pointed out that attaining independence late was advantageous
in that we had learnt from African countries, which became independent
earlier, what pitfalls to avoid.

"I am glad that I have not seen
George again because I would have had to eat my words."

Yes, Zimbabwe
is now worse off than Ghana. When George visited the country we were the
breadbasket of the region and there was a semblance of order. Today our once
full coffers are dry and we are no longer creditworthy. We are a pariah
State, which is running all over the world looking for likely friends to beg
from. Our traditional partners will not even talk to us because of the
government's violation of basic human rights.

However, if I meet George
now I will not be too embarrassed. Events in Ghana have saved me. That
country has proved that George was wrong to say that Africans are not
capable of practising democracy and upholding human rights. Its economy is
on the mend and they have just had their second free and fair
elections.

Congratulations Ghana, you have redeemed Africa together
with South Africa, Botswana, Senegal and others. It is our hope that
Zimbabwe will one day soon shed its negative "African caricature" image and
join these beacons of hope for the continent.

At one time Zimbabweans
hoped that this would happen with the appearance of a credible opposition
party in the form of the Movement for Democratic Change. Actually, things
have become worse. It is now obvious that things will only get worse as long
as President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF are in power. Democratic
institutions continue to be destroyed and human rights further abused in the
name of "protecting our sovereignty and hard-won independence".

I
listened expectantly to our President's State of the Nation address last
Thursday. Since this was on the eve of the anniversary of the December 10
1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I had forlornly
hoped he was going to at least allude to this historic event.

This
was not to be. How could he since according to Zanu PF doctrine human rights
are Western concepts used to "destabilize and undermine the independence and
sovereignty of former colonies" like Zimbabwe?

He went on and on talking
about the strides Zimbabwe had made in turning around the economy. I did not
hear the rest of the boring and illusional speech because his droning voice
caused me to doze off. What economic turn around? I dare him or Governor of
the Reserve Bank, Gideon Gono, to go and address rallies in Chitungwiza,
Mbare, Highfield, Dzivarasekwa or Mabvuku and tell the hungry multitudes
there that they are now better off because the economy has turned around and
see what will happen.

In the part of his speech, which I listened to
while dozing on and off, President Mugabe seems to have said that Zimbabwe
had taken measures compliant with the SADC norms, principles and guidelines
on democratic elections as set out in the Mauritius protocol of July 2004,
which Zimbabwe signed. I hope I didn't hear him correctly because that would
be a naked lie.

What is true is that his Zanu PF government has moved
farther and farther away from the SADC principles to the extent that even if
there is no violence, as things stand it will be impossible to have free and
fair elections by March next year.

With the passing of the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the Public Order and
Security Act (POSA) and the NGOs Act I thought the government had reached
the limit in passing repressive laws. They had now outdone Ian Smith and his
Rhodesia Front government. How wrong I was. The Criminal Law (Codification
and Reform) Bill is on its way to becoming law. This Bill when passed by our
docile, hand clapping and totally bemused Zanu PF legislators will
effectively silence all opposition or criticism of the government. For
voicing disagreement, even in private, with anything the government says or
does one can be jailed for 20 years or be fined $5million.

I don't
think that this is the limit. What is now left is for the government to pass
a law, which forbids citizens from even thinking "thoughts which are false
or which if expressed may bring the person of the president, the government
or any of its departments into disrepute". For thinking such unpatriotic
thoughts one can be jailed for life.

I feel strongly that, under the
present circumstances, it would be a mistake for the MDC to participate in
next year's general elections. Yes, I do believe in miracles as a Christian.
However, there is a difference between faith and folly. Refraining from
participating in the elections will not be cowardice, as some seem to think.
It is pragmatic wisdom.

Shona wisdom says "Chinobhururuka chinomhara".
What goes up comes down. Zanu PF is on its way to self-destruction. The
cracks are already visible so let us stand clear before the blast. We will
just watch as Zanu PF cadres fight to death for uncontested seats. I also
don't think the six provincial chairpersons who were suspended for attending
Jonathan Moyo's Tsholotsho meeting will take it sitting down. After all,
they were not handpicked into their positions by President Mugabe as was the
Minister of State for Information and Publicity. They came up from the
grassroots through the structures of the party. They wield a lot of
power.

The Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA), whose
chairperson, Jabulani Sibanda, was suspended for four years, is rather
uneasy and restless.

It has been a strong ally of Zanu PF but now
wants to assert its independence from the party. What this will lead to is
anybody's guess.

After Zanu PF self-destructs a new order will emerge.
Then we will be able to say with Nelson Mandela, who upon receiving the
Nobel Peace Prize said: "Thus shall we live, because we will have created a
society which recognizes that all people are born equal, with each entitled
in equal measure to life, liberty, prosperity, human rights and good
governance. Such a society should never allow again that there should be
prisoners of conscience or that any person's human rights should be
violated.

"Neither should it ever happen that once more the avenues to
peaceful change are blocked by usurpers who seek to take power away from the
people, in pursuit of their own, ignoble purposes."

Thousands Still in Need of Food Aid in Zimbabwe By Tendai
Maphosa Harare 13 December 2004

The World Food
Program continues to feed hundreds of thousands of people in Zimbabwe
despite government claims that there is enough food for everyone.

Earlier
this year the World Food Program distributed food aid to close to half of
the 130,000 people of Mudzi district in northeastern Zimbabwe.

Food
distribution stopped for many after the government declared that Zimbabwe
has enough food and will not need assistance. That claim is disputed by the
donor agencies and even by a parliamentary committee made up of members of
the ruling ZANU PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change.

The WFP is still helping to feed those considered vulnerable
despite government orders to stop food distribution.

Among those the
WFP considers at risk are infants and school children and those infected by
HIV and AIDS.

One of those who receives food aid is 19-year-old orphan
Elizabeth Shoko who lives with her grandmother. She said stopping food aid
would make life very difficult for them.

"f it stops it kills us, we
do not have anybody to give us food again so if they stop we are going to
suffer a lot," she said.

It is the rainy season in Zimbabwe and people in
Mudzi are hoping for good rains so they can harvest enough to feed
themselves and maybe even have crops to sell.

For most of the
district's people agricultural production is the only source of income. Bad
harvests over the last four years has plunged many of them into
poverty.

Rudo Katsande says while the government has disbursed some free
seed corn to some families, it is not enough. She says if the farmers do not
get any fertilizer they won't harvest much.

Zimbabwe is experiencing
its worst economic troubles since independence 24 years ago. Its
agriculture, once the source of foreign income, has collapsed after several
years of drought.

But donor agencies and analysts however also blame the
drop in production on the country's chaotic land reform program. Under that
program, white commercial farms have been expropriated and the land, which
was to be distributed to landless blacks, ended up mostly in the hands of
President Robert Mugabe's top officials.

By Staff
ReporterLast updated: 12/14/2004 07:12:57THE inquest into the death of
Joanna "Mama Mafuyana" Nkomo continued Monday with the prosecutor grilling
an operative from the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) on why she
telephoned her bosses instead of the hospital when she
collapsed.

Agness Hadzidzi, the CIO operative who made Mafuyana's
bodygyuard following the death of her husband, nationalist leader Joshua
Nkomo, told coroner, Bulawayo magistrate John Masimba that when the deceased
started vomiting she phoned her bosses.

She added that as part of her
training she had done first aid. But she could not say why she did not phone
the doctor instead of her handlers.

"When the deceased started vomiting I
immediately phoned my bosses because I did not know what to do," she
said.

Dr. Atwell Mari, who treated Mafuyana before her death also gave
evidence at the hearing which was instituted after the late national
heroine's daughter, Thandiwe, said she suspected foul play.

Dr. Mari
said the deceased's lungs had too much water which he described as
"unnatural". He could not, however, be drawn to say whether this was due to
poisoning or not insisting that this was not normal.

This
corroborated evidence that was given by another doctor, Stanford Mathe, who
said Mafuyana's death was due to "foulplay".

One of the key witnesses,
Collen Shava, who was Mafuyana's driver, died early this year. Three other
witnesses did not testify because the coroner said he was satisfied with the
evidence that was gathered during the inquest and would give a determination
on January 13 next year.

PLANS are underway to ensure, after the major land
reform of the past five years, that all of Zimbabwe is properly surveyed,
compensation for improvements calculated, lease agreements monitored and
land use properly planned.

In this context, the Ministry of Lands,
Land Reform and Resettlement is now seeking to fill 155 vacancies for
professional and technical staff in the departments of the Surveyor-General,
Resettle-ment and Land Information Management.

The Department of the
Surveyor-General has several vacancies for senior professional staff,
including the post of Surveyor-General itself, and the ministry wants to
fill these vacancies as soon as possible in addition to recruiting chief
land surveyors for its Harare and Bulawayo offices.

But among the most
critical of the technical staff required for this department are 44 land
survey technicians whose duties will include negotiating for land and
improvements, conducting preliminary valuations and co-ordinating with other
departments on compensation.

The technicians will be responsible for
processing leases for business sites in resettlement schemes and commercial
areas, reviewing expired leases for both business premises and homesteads,
processing lease transfers, following up lease rental arrears, and
recommending cancellation of non-operational leases.

Apart from land
survey technicians, the department was looking for land officers who will,
among other duties, administer the land acquisition policy, facilitate land
acquisition, gazette resettlement farms, co-ordinate land planning and
handle delisting applications.

Also in demand are land technicians in the
Department of Valuation and Estates who will share some of the duties of the
land survey technicians.

Officials within the ministry said the
recruitment exercise was expected to make the job of flushing out multiple
farm owners much easier.

The ministry had launched a major clampdown on
multiple farm owners as it winds up the land resettlement programme and
shifts its focus to production on the farms.

This has resulted in
some people including some ministers and high-ranking officials being forced
to surrender excess land.

The issue of multiple farm ownership came to
light following the production of a report by the Presidential Land Review
Committees appointed by President Mugabe and led by former Secretary to the
President and Cabinet, Cde Charles Utete.

The contents of the Utete
report led the President to assume responsibility for dealing with multiple
landowners.

He subsequently appointed Cde John Nkomo to head the Ministry
of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, a separate entity from the Ministry
of Agriculture.

Please take note that there is an ERROR
on the Section 5 notices (Herald10.12.2004, page 12) pertaining to the time
period granted for "letters ofobjection" which refers to a closure date on
the 10th January [2004?]. Thisshould surely read 10th January
2005!---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lot
160: LAND ACQUISITION ACT [CHAPTER 20:10]

Preliminary Notice to
Compulsorily Acquire Land

NOTICE is hereby given, in terms of subsection
(1) of section 5 of the LandAcquisition Act (Chapter 20:10), that the
President intends to acquirecompulsorily the land described in the Schedule
for resettlement purposes.

A plan on the land is available for inspection
at the following offices ofthe Ministry of Special Affairs in the Office of
the President and Cabinetin Charge of Lands, Land Reform and resettlement
between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.from Monday to Friday other than on a public
holiday on or before 10January, 2004.

Any owner or occupier or any other person who has
an interest and right inthe said land, and who wishes to object to the
proposed compulsoryacquisition, may lodge the same, in writing, with the
Minister of SpecialAffairs in the Office of the President and Cabinet in
Charge of Lands, LandReform and Resettlement, Private Bag 7779, Causeway,
Harare, on or before10 January, 2004.

J L NKOMO Minister of Special
Affairs in the Office of the President andCabinet in Charge of Lands, Land
Reform and
Resettlement---------------------------------------------------------------------------

J
L NKOMOMinister of Special Affairs in theOffice of the President and
Cabinet in Charge of Lands,Land Reform and
Resettlement.---------------------------------------------------------------------------LOT
160 SECTION 5, 10th December 2004>From Herald

AS THE spectacle of political
division within the ruling tripartite alliance unfolds, we should borrow
from Bill Clinton's 1992 US election campaign and write on every flat
surface: it's the economy, stupid. How we manage our relationship with
Zimbabwe is important. How we manage our economy is critical. We can better
afford a government that refuses to engage on the first than we can one that
ducks debate on the second.

President Thabo Mbeki has shown, in his
response to Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu's considered intervention after
10 years of democracy, that he does not welcome gratuitous political
advice.

Nor, it seems, does he welcome criticism of economic policies
framed in close consultation with the huge and highly qualified team he has
assembled to run the country from the Presidency.

"The truth", he has
taken to repeating, must be respected. And "the truth", he repeatedly
implies, resides with him and his advisers.

After a thorough defence on
three of the issues Tutu raised, Mbeki said in his now famous Internet
letter of November 26: "All of us must educate ourselves about the reality
of South Africa today, internalise the facts about our country, and respect
the truth. Together we must avoid the resort to populism and catchy
newspaper headlines that have nothing to do with the truth and everything to
do with the pursuit of self-serving agendas."

When this testy insistence
on the primacy of his own knowledge extends also to the African National
Congress's partners in the ruling tripartite alliance, Cosatu and the South
African Communist Party should wonder what their role is.

Is Mbeki
using the alliance partners in the way that unscrupulous businesses use
black managers with long titles and little influence - useful when there are
votes to be won or a deal to be closed, but really no more than politically
expedient window-dressing?

And if he is, do we care?

The leaders
of Cosatu and the SACP care. They are deeply frustrated by their inability
to influence the government's broad economic development strategy, and angry
about the repeated postponement of a long overdue summit of the three ruling
parties.

They do concede there is a significant narrowing of their
differences over economic policy, but find it difficult to claim much of the
credit.

Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi says the political
slanging match in which he and Tutu have felt the whip of Mbeki's tongue has
diverted attention from progress made on economic policy.

The debate,
he urges, should be about economic strategy rather than whether grown men
are mature enough to participate in the national discourse.

Mbeki has
done nothing in the past two weeks to encourage engagement on political
questions such as Zimbabwe.

And he and his team have been no more
encouraging of debate on economic policy.

While the government's
policy factory remains almost exclusively the machine that is the
Presidency, the ANC's alliance partners risk being witnesses to the making
of economic history rather than participants.

They may be nominal
partners in Mbeki's government, but when it comes to issues of economic
policy they have no more say than the non-governmental organisations that
line up to plead their causes at the doors of the Presidency or
Treasury.

The most effective alliance work is done at the level of
officials in those ministries - Energy and Land are cited as positive
examples - where the input of the partners is valued. The least effective is
at the levels of Treasury and the Presidency, where appointment books are
usually full and calls often go unreturned.

The dismissive attitude
of the national executive breeds a contagious contempt. Why should a
department submit contentious ideas to alliance scrutiny when the President
has little regard for their views?

Certainly, the government made every
effort to avoid consulting Nedlac, a statutory consultative forum linking
government, business and labour, on the corporatisation of the former Public
Investment Commissioners who manage the massive public-service pension
savings. Instead of seeking legal advice on whether to consult Nedlac, it
sought advice to legitimise its decision not to.

SACP deputy general
secretary Jeremy Cronin looks for a silver lining when he cites the success
of a four-year campaign for low-cost banking for the poor, but that is a
small return for lending the name and authority of the SACP to the entire
ANC democracy project.

A basic income grant would be a significant prize
to bring home, but that campaign, as Tutu identified, has hit a brick
wall.

Cosatu clearly is worried.

"Government programmes are going
ahead and, in many instances, consultation with alliance partners is
non-existent. Nor can we claim that Cosatu is consolidating a progressive
economic development agenda," the union federation said in a frank review
last week of progress since its last national congress in September
2003.

The art of politics allows huge scope for differences over issues
such as Zimbabwe, but the more exact science of economics defines a smaller
arena of contest and requires all participants to accept a set of rules and
realities which, within the alliance, they do.

So the debate that the
ANC's partners want is no longer one between capitalism and socialism but -
in the middle ground between those outer markers of economic policy - one
about the nuances of tax to gross domestic product ratios, acceptable
deficit targets and levels of state investment.

The alliance partners
want faster land reform, a weaker rand to protect export-based jobs, and
protection from excessive import competition, including Chinese
textiles.

All are controversial proposals that are unlikely to find
favour with business or the Presidency.

But using public-works
spending and public-enterprise investment to generate jobs and growth were
anathema in those circles a decade ago, and have now achieved broad
acceptance.

If the SACP and Cosatu are allies, then the government should
be willing to hear them out privately and publicly, and respond to their
ideas with something better than personal insults or a claim to greater
knowledge - what Mbeki calls "the truth".

Cronin says there is no
difference over the need for black economic empowerment and that it should
be broad-based, but there is more room than Mbeki concedes for debate about
the effectiveness and appropriateness of the model proposed for the 15.1%
Telkom stake.

He puts a legitimate question when he asks: "Will it bring
telephony opportunities to poor and remote communities or is it just a
business opportunity?"

Just because it is a difficult question to
answer when the deal is party stalwart Smuts Ngonyama's ticket to
mega-wealth does not mean the government should be excused from a proper
response.

The allies have agreed more than once to improve policy
co-ordination and set up structures to ensure that they engage more
vigorously. This has hardly happened. The commitment has bogged down in
differences over the boundary between appropriate liaison on macroeconomic
policy and inappropriate alliance meddling in the minutiae of
government.

Cosatu and the SACP have not given up trying to establish
forums that will give them real influence over the big economic picture, but
the time is coming for them to consider throwing in the towel.

This
country has had too many people justify their proximity to power by saying
they are fighting the system from within. It has not worked in the past, and
Mbeki has shown that it won't work now.

The ANC allies may be allowed,
although discouraged, to speak out in public about their concerns, but for
them to claim significant recent influence over the government's economic
policies is misleading.

Mbeki and his team in the Presidency rely on
their own analysis of the conundrums of economic management. Any similarity
to the mandates of Cosatu and the SACP is purely coincidental.

If the
left wing of the alliance cannot win an early and certain assurance of
ungagged influence, it would be in everyone's best interests if they ceased
the pretence of unity.

For the sake of the entire democracy project, it's
the economy, stupid. And economic wisdom, like the truth, is not the
exclusive preserve of the ANC's inner circle. It is best discovered through
free and public interrogation.